| The Cass Collection |
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| Shay #2 Shay #4 Shay #5 Shay #6 Shay #7 Climax 9 Heisler 6 Feather River Shay 3 |
Climax #9
In The Old Days...
In the 1880's Climax Manufacturing Company was already established in Correy, Pennsylvania, manufacturing agricultural and oil field machinery. The idea for their geared locomotive came from an unknown logger. On March 4, 1888 Climax completed its first locomotive. On February 10, 1888, George Gilbert of the Climax Manufacturing Company applied for a patent on the not yet completed locomotive. He was awarded patent No. 393,896 on December 4th of the same year. Shortly thereafter Ephraim Shay, the father and patent holder of the Shay locomotive, became aware of the Climax locomotive. From March 1889 into 1890 several letters were exchanged between Ephraim Shay and Climax Manufacturing. Shay accused Climax of infringing on his patent and demanded that they settle with him, but the outcome of the dispute is unknown.
Past to Present...
Our Climax #9 was purchased from Robert L Johnson, of Rossville Georgia who acquired it from Moore-Kepple & Co., of Ellamore WV, where it was used on their subsidiary operation, the Middle Fork Railroad Co. as their #6. Currently the restoration of Climax 9 is one of the lead projects of the Mountain State Logging and Historical Association. Progress on this engine can be seen at the Mountain State Shop in Cass.
Technically Speaking:
Builder No.: 1551
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